Bon Scott statue to finally be unveiled in 2016!

This is a story that Moshville Times have been following (and donated to in the early days) and to get the following news through after all this time is very uplifting! Bloody well done to the crowdfunders and organisers!

Old friends and ex-AC/DC band members are set to attend the unveiling of Bon Scott statue at Scottish festival in 2016.

Bonfest: The 10th Annual International Bon Scott Festival, the rock music festival in honour of AC/DC’s Bon Scott, takes place over the 29th April -1st May 2016, in Bon’s Scottish hometown of Kirriemuir. 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the festival and will be the biggest Bonfest yet. As well as the 10th anniversary, the 2016 festival will see the unveiling of a life sized bronze statue of the rock legend in a special memorial garden in the town.

With the combined 10th anniversary and statue unveiling, organisers DD8 Music have assembled a program of events and special guests that any AC/DC fan would not want to miss. The festival features the best tribute bands from all over Europe. Playing this year are Back:N:Black from Switzerland, Chaman from Spain, BON The AC/DC Show from Germany and finally Pure D/C who are accompanied, all the way from Australia, by the drummer on AC/DC’s High Voltage album, Tony Currenti. Tony will be performing the entirety of the High Voltage album with the band on the Sunday night of the festival.

As well as Tony there are several other special guests with connections to AC/DC visiting over the weekend. Drummer on the recent “Rock or Bust” and “Let’s Play Ball” videos Bob Richards will be in town. Bob is an amazing drummer, and as well as AC/DC has played with many other classic rock acts, including Man and Asia.

Special friend of Bon and co-author of the new memoir Live Wire, Mary Renshaw, will fly in from Australia to take part in book signings as well as a Q&A session. Mary has been described as Bon’s “soulmate” and she has some incredible personal stories about him. Live Wire was written in collaboration with John and Gabby D’Arcy. John was Bon’s roadie, and the book is a deeply personal and revealing portrait of Bon by some of the people who knew him best.

Finally the star guest is the legendary bass player Mark Evans. Mark played on 5 of the classic Bon era albums, and was a close personal friend of Bon. Mark’s autobiography Dirty Deeds is one of the only first-hand accounts of what life was really like within the band when they were on the way up in the 1970’s. Mark will join Mary to host a Q&A session and perform a solo set. Mark will also be joining in on a few songs with BON on the main stage on Saturday night.

In what has become a tradition the festival will kick off with a recreation of AC/DCs iconic “Long Way to the Top” video on Friday 29th April at midday. On the back of a vintage 1960’s open top lorry, German band BON The AC/DC show, complete with piper, will perform the song moving round the cobbled sandstone streets of Kirriemuir to open the festival. This will be the start of three days of classic rock music, and will see fans from all over the planet descend on the small Scottish town. Here’s some footage of the Italian band Buon Scotch doing it in 2013:

The highlight of the weekend will be the unveiling of the life sized statue of Bon, at 1pm on Saturday 30th April. DD8 Music have been fundraising for two years to get the statue made, and hit their target of £50,000 through a crowd funding appeal in September. The statue has been produced by renowned artist John McKenna and was funded by donations from AC/DC fans all over the world. The statue will be sited in a memorial garden on Bellies Brae in the town, and will be officially unveiled by Mark Evans and Mary Renshaw.

As well as three evening big top concerts there are also three days of free live music in local pubs, outdoor stages, a record fair, BBQs, a street market, an art exhibition and a custom Harley show.

Early bird weekend tickets for the festival will be available locally from the Kirriemuir Art Gallery on Reform Street, from 10.30am Saturday 31st October and will be available online from 10am on Saturday 7th November from http://www.bonfest.com/buy-tickets. DD8 Music fully expect this event to sell out, and all in all this will be a weekend that AC/DC fans and lovers of rock will not want to miss!